


Distractions

by whoneedsapublisher



Category: Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magika | Puella Magi Madoka Magica
Genre: Absurd Homura Characterisation, F/F, Sayaka trying her best, delinquent au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-22
Updated: 2017-02-22
Packaged: 2018-09-26 04:52:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,391
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9863699
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/whoneedsapublisher/pseuds/whoneedsapublisher
Summary: Delinquent AU. Kyouko is distracted during a fight, and she's pretty sure she knows exactly why.





	1. Distractions

**Author's Note:**

  * For [rankarana](https://archiveofourown.org/users/rankarana/gifts).



Kyouko spit on the pavement and noted with distaste how red it was. Not good. If punks like these were landing good enough hits to rattle her teeth, she sincerely hoped that no one from Kazemino was looking to settle grudges any time soon.

“Sakura.”

She was going soft, is what it was. Losing her edge. There was no other reason why she’d be getting tripped up by a bunch of half-rate schoolyard bullies who could barely clench their fist properly. Kyouko Sakura, formerly the terror of Kazemino, currently the monster of Mitakihara- which went to show that whatever other faults this town had, the citizens were a least a little better at catchy nicknames. The alliteration was nice.

“ _Sakura._ ”

There was only one reason _why_ she would be going soft, too. Letting out a ‘tch’ under her breath, Kyouko sourly thought of the girl who was throwing her off. Well, she tried to think sourly, but as soon as the girl’s stupid friendly smile and cute fidgeting popped into her head, Kyouko found herself predictable incapable of being angry. Damnit, it wasn’t fair to be that cute.

The goofy smile beginning to inch onto her face was swept away by a hand slapping Kyouko upside the head, hard.

“Ow! The hell was that for, Homura?” Kyouko snapped, spinning around to look at the always placid face of her partner, her already very neutral expression further obscured by a face mask.

“You’re distracted. Pitifully so. Not only did you get punched by someone even more oafish than you, you’re spacing out after the fight without even making reinforcements aren’t on the way.” As usual, Homura had all the warmth and restraint of a January blizzard, but the real reason Kyouko winced was she knew her friend was right- only made more obvious by the fact that Homura didn’t have a scratch on her.

“Yeah, yeah, I fucked up, whatever,” she allowed, making a hand gesture as if to brush the notion off as the two of them started to amble away from the scene of the fight before anyone else showed up. “So sue me, who cares if I wasn’t giving my full attention to the chucklefuck corps?”

“I don’t know, dumbass, maybe your dentist?” Homura shot back snidely, pulling out a handkerchief and throwing it at Kyouko disdainfully. Then, with something uncomfortably close to a leer, she added “Maybe your little rose-headed distraction, too. She might go all cold if you mess up your face. Can’t imagine she’s looking at you for your stellar personality.”

Kyouko flushed red and tried to hide it by rubbing at her face with the cloth. “S-Shut up Homura! I wasn’t even thinkin’ about her! Like I even care if some dumbass sheltered kid like that stops giving me weird looks.”

Homura rolled her eyes dramatically and made an obscene hand gesture. “Spare me your tsundere act, Sakura, if your eyes were fucking her any harder you’d need to tape condoms to your face.”

Suddenly Homura stopped and leaned closer, causing Kyouko to lean back uncomfortably. The look on Homura’s face now was definitely a leer. “But hey, if you’re not interested, maybe I can show her a good time. She’s not bad looking, and I bet you could talk her into doing whatever you want with a little aggressi-” Seeing red, Kyouko swung at Homura hard, and the other girl barely managed to pull back in time, grunting as the blow impacted on her shoulder instead of her face and tumbling back.

“Yeah. That’s what you need to start thinking about in fights, Sakura,” she said, her voice back to cold and her expression back to neutral. “Stop this rainbows and sunshine shit. When you’re in a fight, just remember that, if any one of these useless punks knew you had a thing for this girl, they wouldn’t hesitate to beat you to it even if she wasn’t interested. Think about that instead of what fuckin’ flowers you’re gonna buy on your first date, and maybe you’ll keep your face in good enough condition that she’ll let you be her first.” As Homura turned and stalked away, rubbing her shoulder, Kyouko stood with her face red and her fists clenched, not sure if she wanted to thank Homura or kill her, but definitely sure that she wanted to see Madoka as soon as she cleaned up.

 


	2. Consequences

For the second time in a week, Kyouko spit blood on the pavement. This time, however, it wasn’t a sign of her being out of focus- it was sign of her being out of her league. She probably wouldn’t even be upright if her arms weren’t being held. Squinting out of a black eye, she looked up at the unimpressed face of her former leader and Mitakihara’s most dangerous woman. No one knew her real name, but everyone knew what she was called: Mami. No last name needed. There was a rumour that she used to be a rich kid, but after what Mami did to the first person she heard mention it, no one dared spread it any more. There were different gangs of thugs from different schools or turfs, but no one opposed Mami directly- at least no one who lived very long.

Another thing no one did was quit the gang when Mami took a special interest in them. Well, no one who anyone dared to talk about, and certainly no one who was walking the streets afterwards.

“So much for love being an unbreakable shield,” Mami said sarcastically, kicking Kyouko in the stomach for good measure before turning away and leaving her subordinates to hold Kyouko in place. “Now then, let’s take a nice look at this goody two-shoes bitch who’s stealing away one of my best lieutenants.”

Madoka was cowering against the wall of the school, her friend Sayaka lying groaning on the ground next to her. The student council president had tried to fight them off, but some lessons in karate weren’t going to cut it in a street fight against the dirtiest brawler in the city, and Mami had laid her out flat without even needing to lean on her numbers advantage. Now the blonde terror was standing in front of Madoka with her bat in one hand and a sour look on her face, flanked by goons. Her coat, “LEADER” emblazoned on the back, was draped casually over her shoulders, the sleeves left hanging by her sides.

“Leave her alone!” Kyouko yelled, struggling fruitlessly against the two thugs holding her. A third punched her in the face hard enough that her vision swam for a second, but Mami didn’t even acknowledge her, reaching forward and grabbing Madoka by the arm, ignoring her attempt to wriggle away as she stared searchingly at her.

“She’s not even that hot, Sakura,” Mami said in disgust, throwing her back against the wall. Madoka cried out in pain and Kyouko surged forward before being pulled back again by her captors.

“I could maybe understand if you turned your back on your family for some jaw-dropping daddy’s girl meal ticket, but an average income with an average face? Do we mean so little to you? Does all that I’ve done for you count for NOTHING?” her face twisting into a mask of rage, Mami kicked Madoka in the ribs as the girl whimpered and curled up into a ball. “After we pulled you out of the gutter, gave you a family, gave you a purpose, you threw it all away to be with THIS?”

Her face snapped back to calm and she turned back to Kyouko, giving her a cold look. “Do you know what I hate more than anything, Sakura? It’s not people who dare oppose me. It’s not goody two-shoes little morons who think they’re tough like little miss Miki there. It’s not even cops.”

She walked over to Kyouko and leaned close, grabbing her by the collar and meeting her eyes with a gaze that made even Kyouko shrink back. “It’s INGRATITUDE, SAKURA!” she roared, letting going of Kyouko’s collar and standing up. “There’s nothing I despite more than someone who you show nothing but kindness to who STABS YOU-” She swung her bat, cracking Kyouko in the arm. Kyouko screamed, but Mami didn’t even seem to notice. “-IN-” Another swing, to her side. Kyouko heard something that sounded dangerously like a crack. A sharp pain confirmed that she’d probably just broken a rib. “-THE-” The bat came down on her shoulder and she almost blacked out from the pain. “-BACK!” The last swing was to the gut and Kyouko pitched forward, retching.

“Hold her stupid head up,” Mami said, turning away and walking back towards Madoka. One of the thugs obliged, and Kyouko watched Mami’s furious strides through blurred vision. “I want her to watch when I smash her girlfriend’s head like a melon and make their hair colours match.”

Kyouko couldn’t even struggle anymore. She watched helplessly as Mami raised the bat above her head, and-

A police siren rang out, and at the same moment a book bag flew out of the bush and hit Mami in the head. Swearing, she looked up and saw the bushes rustling as a dark haired figure ran. Before she could recover, police were swarming into the courtyard, shouting orders to surrender. The thugs scattered as a group of cops approached Mami, who yelled in defiance and smashed one of them in the face with her bat.

The thugs holding Kyouko bolted, and she fell face first onto the ground, pain shooting through her. Watching dazed as her vision faded, she saw a dozen officers finally wrestle Mami to the ground and cuff her as she thrashed and bit. Then Kyouko’s vision went dark, and her senses faded away.

* * *

“…critical condition…” A strange voice Kyouko didn’t recognise washed over her as she faded in and out of consciousness, blurred visions of indistinct shapes and colours swimming in front of her eyes as murmurs of sound made it to her ears. “…at least two broken ribs, extensive blunt force trauma…” Another snippet of the voice. “…get us into this time, honestly…” A familiar annoyed tone spoke this time, and then… “…Please, let me see her!…” Was that…?

“Madoka?” Kyouko croaked, opening her eyes blearily and looking around.

Homura, the only other resident of the moonlit room, raised an eyebrow and closed her book. “Just missed her by an hour or ten,” she said drily.

“Where… where am I?” Kyouko managed, looking around as her head spun.

“There’s only two places where people who fuck with Mami end up, and if it was the morgue you wouldn’t be waking up,” Homura shot back. “So congratulations, you managed to end up in the hospital instead.”

A slow look around the room confirmed it, and Kyouko began to realize she could only see out of one eye. She reached up to see why and winced when her arm wouldn’t move. Glancing down, she saw that her right arm was in a cast, her abdomen was heavily bandaged, and a tender brush with her left hand confirmed she was wearing a medical eyepatch.

“Honestly, Sakura. Why did you have to go and fall in love?” Kyouko looked back at Homura, who was rubbing her forehead and looking tired. “We had a good thing going with Mami’s gang, but now neither of us can go back.”

“…Neither of us?” Kyouko asked, her mind hazy and having trouble putting together what Homura was trying to say.

“…I’ll forgive you being slow on the uptake given how much morphine you’re on,” Homura said, before sighing and leaning forward. “I was the one who called the cops. Mami’s in jail and won’t be out for a while. She was so pissed at you that she got sloppy, and the fuzz jumped all over the chance to catch her in the act. I was also the one who threw the bag and stopped her getting charged for murder rather than grievous bodily harm.”

“You… did that?” Kyouko mumbled, amazed.

“…You’re my partner, idiot,” Homura said, smiling fondly. “Of course I bailed your dumb ass out.”

Tears welled up in Kyouko’s eyes and Homura looked away, embarrassed. “Whatever. Go back to sleep. I’m sure next time you wake up Madoka will be here and you can have your sappy reunion.”

Kyouko nodded and lay back.

“…Hey Homura?”

Homura made a non-committal noise of affirmation.

“…Thanks. You’ve always got my back, you know? …Thanks.”

“…hmph. Call us even, then,” Homura said, and Kyouko nodded as she drifted back into oblivion.

* * *

“Mmrph…” The next time Kyouko came to, there was sunlight streaming through the windows, and she winced and awkwardly covered her eyes with a hand.

“Kyouko? Kyouko, are you awake?” Kyouko turned to the source of the anxious voice, barely believing it, but there was Madoka, bandaged a little but mostly safe, tears running down her face.

“Madoka?” Kyouko asked, hesitant as if she didn’t quite believe it.

Madoka rushed over to the bed and took Kyouko’s uninjured hand. “Kyouko! I thought… I thought you weren’t going to make it…” she buried her face in Kyouko’s hand and Kyouko blushed, unsure of what to say.

“Hey, I’m not that easy to kill…” she mumbled awkwardly, moving her hand to cup the side of Madoka’s face. She wiped away Madoka’s tears with her thumb and gave her a weak smile, but then her face fell.

“…I’m sorry, Madoka,” she whispered, looking down. “I told you I’d protect you, but in the end you almost got killed because of me.”

Madoka shook her head vigorously.

“You did protect me,” she said firmly. “If you hadn’t stood up to Mami so long, there’s no way the police would have gotten there before I was done for.”

Kyouko still wasn’t satisfied, and opened her mouth to protest, but before she could get a word out Madoka was kissing her, and suddenly she couldn’t remember how to say anything. Her eyes, which had shot open wide in shock, closed as she kissed Madoka back.

Because of this, she didn’t see Homura enter. She also didn’t see Homura make a face, or leave again and close the door. Probably for the best, really- she had better things to be paying attention to.

 


End file.
